Hi there! I’m always trying to respect any sensible No Drone signs. I respect No Drone signs on National Trust properties, I respect “No drones between x and y months due to nesting” near cliffs etc. But Old Man of Storr in Skye shocked me a bit, because there are No Drone signs scattered across the whole walk. No reasoning, no explanation. I couldn’t even find anything about it online. I understand that the walk can get really crowded, but every drone pilot must follow the drone code anyway and the drone code is very specific about crowds. When I was there, there was barely anybody, so flying a drone for a few minutes wouldn’t actually bother anybody. How do you feel about these blanket No Drone signs?
Far as I can see, the land is owned by Highland Council and I don’t think they’ve any specific bylaws prohibiting drones and there aren’t any airspace restrictions.
Staffin Community Trust do have involvement in the area and they have previously ‘politely asked’ for drones not to be flown around nesting birds, and from that article I’d guess are pretty anti-drone. Maybe they’ve put the signs up?
Did the signs have council logos on? Might be worth contacting them to see if they can shed any light on the situation?
I quite like them, they make me smile and get the drone out to take pictures 
If there are nesting birds around the site then disturbing them is illegal and you could end up in trouble. If there are none? Then fly as you like as fas as I’m aware.
No council logos as far as I could see/remember, just plain and simple No Drones signs. I’ll try to get in touch with Highland Council and see if I can get any info from them. The Storr walk is the only popular place in Skye with a blanket No Drone sign, but it is also a vast open area with no noticeable bird nests or grazing areas and only a few crowd hotspots, so I’m really interested in a reason.
If there’s no logo on the notices then I’d suspect they were placed by some grumpy member of the public, with no official status
I wouldn’t get too upset Sindri, people are putting signs up like this all over the place. They have absolutely no legal jurisdiction whatsoever. Furthermore, if it is indeed public land or at least publicly accessible there is not much they can do to stop you TOAL, let alone flying your drone over the site. If it was private land they could ask you to not use it for TOAL and ask you to leave their land. Even then this is a cicvil and not criminal matter so even the police I doubt would be able to anything unless you were being and idiot and causing a nuisance, negate that by flying at at least 40mtrs high and be civil if approached. Do be careful with the bird situation though, you can’t obviously see the nests for a reason. Birds usually hide them away quite well to avoid predation and disturbance. If you do notice any birds that are upset, mobbing your drone, making alarm calls then it is time to pack up the drone and go back later.